The other day I saw a nine seat people carrier (total) showing hotel livery, it was transporting adults and children.
The passengers were not wearing seat belts and at least one small child was not on a booster seat.
Although this is not haulage related I am aware there are drivers on the forum with passenger carrying experience, so my questions are, in the above scenario by law should the small child under 14 years have been on a booster seat and wearing a seat belt and if so who would be responsible for ensuring it was done?
I know of certain exemptions through Google but do bear in mind the above information when offering your opinion. For example it was neither a large bus, taxi, mini bus or private vehicle.
Nobody knows the answer to this one,Vosa, Bus company,Driver,Manager,parents ,all pass the buck.
If seat belts are fitted they must be worn(mandatory).((blue white stickers usually )).
The parents must inform the bus company if children ,baby seat is going to be used before travel,(most don,t bother) this is where it gets to pass the buck time. Some buses have lap belts,some three point belts…
Excuse time now : I wasn’t told a child was travelling
I haven’t been trained to fit car seats.
Just take them it will be alright
The parents should have brought their own Child seat…
The insurance company won,t let me fit it…
ETC ETC
The responsibility should be put on the parent /guardian - end of .
maestegboy:
If seat belts are fitted they must be worn(mandatory).((blue white stickers usually )).
My 2p worth… When I was a bus driver, we had one old d/d bus kitted out with seat belts and seat belt stickers, it was for a certain school run. I was told I was doing this run, I defected the bus, and was told I must wait for it to be fixed, I asked for another bus as the yard had a few lying about. I was told no, as the school bus must have seat belts, I then asked “How am I supposed to ensure all 50 odd kids are wearing their belts■■?” to which the manager replied “All we are obligated to do is supply the seat belts, if they chose not to wear them thats fine!!!”
I do believe the transit/merc mini bus must be different… no service buses I’ve ever driven had seat belts fitted
Dedicated school buses require seatbelts and therefore they must be worn. Service buses used to carry schoolchildren and members of the public probably don’t require to have them fitted.
This anomaly was used by operators to save the cost of fitting them, just advertise the bus as a normal service for the use of members of the public.
My coach has seatbelts for the passengers but alas not for me.
Does the hotel transport have any sort of operators licence and does the driver need DCPC?This scenario came up on my DCPC module but no-one had a definitive answer,including the trainer.I would say that he needs the dcpc as he is being paid which makes him a pro.driver.The hotel might say that they dont charge fares for using the transport but the costs are being met by the business .This makes it part of a commercial enterprise.
Doesn’t need DCPC or operators licence. Anything with 9 seats (8 passenger + driver) is classed as a car.
In this case, to be legit it would need appropriate insurance (business use or other?) & as a car the driver would be responsible for any seat belt offences for under 13 year olds.
